Dr. Kenneth W. Smith to A. J. Maahs on a Warning for Ring-Tite Lubricant (1954)

A one-page memo of January 25, 1954, from Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, Johns-Manville's medical director, to A. J. Maahs, commenting on letters about the purchase specification for Ring-Tite lubricant, used with J-M's Ring-Tite pipe coupling. "In general," Smith wrote, "when a toxic hazard associated with one of our products has been established all employees working in the fields of research, production or commercial application of the material should be warned of this hazard," with both "the nature of the hazard" and "the recommended procedures for its prevention." Noting the lubricant's 0.25% free alkali, five times the usual limit for hand cleaners, he thought "it is conceivable that our product may cause some dermatitis even though we have no record of cases at present."

What it shows

Smith pointed out that Illinois already required a caution label on products that might harm the health of people using them, and that other states were following. The lubricant label adopted two weeks later carried a skin caution (Cimiotti's February 11 memo). Three weeks earlier, on a skin complaint about Thermobestos, Smith had advised against recommending barrier cream as standard practice (the Thermobestos correspondence).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Series of J-M memoranda (1/54-2/54) regarding specifications for Ring-Tite lubricant. R. Heisler (J-M) recommends a warning that the 0.25% free alkali level in the product may irritate sensitive skin with extended exposure.

A.J. Maahs (J-M) responds (1/14/54) that a warning may create "undue resistance" to the use of the lubricant and proposes limiting the statement to the fact that the lubricant has characteristics similar to laundry soap. Heisler responds (2/4/54) that Nopco Chemical Co. agreed to reduce the percentage of alkali in Ring-Tite, although it will require "more accurate control than is normal to their operation."